Opus 2011-318, A Good Word for Loners

Why does everyone tell me I need to share my feelings more?  I don’t want to share my feelings.  I get bored when you share yours.  It is not that I don’t care.  It is just that I don’t care.  I tend to be an introvert.  I had a pastor share once that an introvert gained energy from solitude and was drained by being with others.  An extrovert would be charged up by being in a group and bored by himself.  I doubt if it was original to him but it has a good point.

Alister Begg once commented on how everyone has times when they want to share something with their father, even after he had died.  I have not had that experience.  I had a lot of love and still have great respect for my father.  He raised four boys who all walked the straight path.  But he was my father, not by buddy.  When I worked with him on a daily basis we could go all day without saying much.  It was not our style.  I have never been someone who has to call and hear someone’s voice.  I am a loner, not a pack animal.

Perhaps bears and wolves would be a good comparison.  Bears are loners and do their own thing.  They raise their family but don’t run with others.  They don’t have a pecking order unless you want to call claiming a specific range as a pecking order. 

Wolves are pack animals.  They have a pecking order.  Maybe a growling order would be a better term.  They know who is top dog.  If they are like dogs they will sleep in a pile. 

There is another characteristic of pack animals.  In people it is sinister.  The leader of the pack tends to be a dictator.  The others are okay with that.  In humans I think that they tend to think that everyone thinks the way they do.  If they don’t they should.  As a result they are more into control and forcing conformity.  People who are loners tend to make more allowance for others having different opinions.  This idea could simply be me trying to make us loners superior, so feel free to do your own thinking and application.

Bears just want to be left alone.  They are capable of duty and responsibility.  They raise their young and are most dangerous when they are with their young (their time of being pack animals).  Then they move on.

Bears and wolves are animals.  They were not created in the image of God so we need to be careful when making comparisons.  But we can see parallels.  Both approaches are normal within reasonable bounds. 

Are you a soloist (a loner) or a member of the orchestra?  What is your style.  Don’t let others force you into their mold.  There is a place for both.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-317, Mushroom Theology

One of the central points of the Protestant Reformation was sola scriptura.  Scripture is to be the central point of our understanding of truth.  Yet so many people don’t know much about their Bible.  I was teaching a class of young adults.  They had been raised in the church.  When I tried to get them to quote I John 1:9 I got nothing but blank stares.  I tried to give them a clue, “If we confess...?”  More blank stares. 

Why is it important to read your Bible?  A lot of people in trying to build their spiritual lives don’t build a foundation because they don’t study enough.  Actually they don’t study at all.  The parallel of picking mushroom came to mind.  I like mushrooms.  With a little butter they are good by themselves.  They add a rich savor to foods.  Yet I would not have a clue on picking edible mushrooms.  I know that most mushrooms I see are deadly toxins.  I have heard them calle “toadstools.”  They look like mushrooms and feel like mushrooms, but they are not edible.  If I tried to eat them I would die from my ignorance.

Too many people have a mushroom theology or mushroom spirituality.  They know truth exists.  They see it and have tasted it.  Yet they cannot find it themselves.  Too many go out and grab the first bit of “truth” that grows in the yard of their life.  They don’t take time to do any research.  They ignore the lessons of people they can trust.  What they get is toxic.

Avoid the mushrooms of life.  If you don’t know the difference, open your Bible and read until you learn some discernment.  This is not like wearing a shirt that doesn’t match your eyes.  This is eternity we are talking about.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-316, New Terms: BCE

You may not have noticed, but more and more books are giving dates in a new format.  The old way was B.C. and A.D.  This was the result of centuries of Christian influence on culture.  Everyone knows that B.C. means “before Christ.”  Most people think A.D. means “after death.”  Those people are wrong.  It really stands for the Latin phrase “Anno Domini” which means “year of the Lord.” 

You can see why this would be unpopular in our multi-cultural, anti-Christian society.  So, like they have done with so many other words and meanings the post-moderns change the playing field.  You will now see B.C.E. and C.E.  The first means “before common era” and the second means “common era.”  Gone is any reference to the central date in Western culture.  Gone is the reference to the birth of Christ. 

Gone is another reference to the central force in what used to be a Christian culture.  Eventually the changes will reach critical mass and life as we know it will just become a fond dream.

Or maybe it will really usher in the end times.  Maranatha.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-315, New Terms: Classical

“Classical” is not really a new term but like so many other things in our diverse, post-modern culture it has been given a new meaning. 

I was sitting in a restaurant and listening to the music in the background.  It was of a classical nature.  I am aware that all called classical is not technically Classical but might be Romantic or Baroque.  My mind jumped to the way the term classical is misused. 

People talk about “classic” rock.  How can this be.  They are talking about recordings that were made only a few years ago.  Classic means something that has stood the test of time.  It means that which has become the standard.  That does not happen in the life-span of an oil change.

We have a way of taking meaningful words and diluting them to the point of emptiness.  We can’t stop it but we can, as individuals, do the best we can to use words correctly and slow the deterioration.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-314, The Deception of Kettle Korn

Call me a fanatic.  Tell me I strain after gnats and swallow camels or the other way around.  That does not change the simple facts.  Kettle Korn is not real popcorn.  There ought to be some federal law that requires a disclaimer on the label to keep people from being sucked into this plot.  Is there no integrity left in the world?  You think it is deceptive to try to label Mit Romney as a conservative or Barak Obama as non-partisan?  That is mild compared to inferring Kettle Korn has any relation to “popcorn.”

Popcorn has corn kernels, salt and butter.  Anything else is toxic to the taste.  Okay, I will let you add some cheese if you want, but that is the limit.  Sugar is anathema.  Sugar if heretical.  Sugar is vulgar.  It also ruins a great snack.  The people that want to add sugar to popcorn are the same ones who have made it almost impossible to find baby dill pickles that are not kosher.  It starts with a little section of one shelf and eventually spreads through the entire pickle department.  We need to draw a line now.

There are few things that are still pure and honorable.  Popcorn is one of those. 

Please leave my popcorn alone.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-313, Forgiveness and Repentance

(Matthew 6:12 KJV)  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Forgiveness.  Such an important part of any relationship whether it be you and your spouse or you and the traffic cop.  Where would life be without forgiveness? 

It is a basic Christian action.  It is at the root of turning the other cheek.  It is necessary for salvation.  In the Lord’s prayer our forgiveness by God is tied to our willingness to forgive others.

I have a question about forgiveness.  What is the proper response to forgiveness?  Gratitude?  Relief?  Affection?  The most significant and meaningful response is too often overlooked.  It is the same thing which often generates forgiveness:  Repentance.  Repentance in the sense of willingly changing that part of our behavior or attitudes which caused the difficulty in the first place.

When you have wronged someone it is a glorious thing for them to forgive you.  For Christians it is a mandate.  When asked how many times we must forgive, Jesus told Peter it should go to 70 times 7.  The point is that we all make mistakes and our culture can only continue if we make allowances for that.  It reminds the person doing the forgiving that retribution and vengeance are not supposed to be in our repertoire.

It should also remind the person being forgiven not to push their luck.  Although it seems that forgiveness is unending largess, there will come a time it will not be extended. 

If forgiveness does not generate a difference in the person forgiven it will eventually become destructive.  Take advantage of this form of love in action.  Change the behavior that caused the problem.  Make it a two way street.  Why is this important?  I started off with the words of Jesus.  Let me finish with what He said a few verses later.

(Matthew 6:15 KJV)  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Get the point?

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-312, Plow and Crown: The Battle for Freedom of Movement

The struggle for liberty has some unsung heroes.  Henry Ford was one of the great pioneers of freedom.  He was responsible for producing a car that the average man could afford to own.  Another pioneer was Rockefeller.  He reduced the price of the fuel that would run those cars so that common people could afford to drive them.  Put the two together and you have a population that had the kind of mobility that previous generations could only dream of.  Unfortunately, future generations may also only be able to dream about it. 

Remember waiting to turn 16 so you could get your driver's license?  It meant freedom.  Your world now expanded beyond the range of your bicycle and sweat, limited only by your gas money and curfew.  Many young people would get jobs just so they could afford a car. 

As an adult you could work more than a few blocks away.  To put it another way, you no longer had to live close to the place you worked.  Your options were greatly increased.

Enjoy it while you can.  The modern nobility is working to take that flexibility away from you by restricting your freedom of movement.  Part of these elite masters are simply power hungry politicians who will have their own chauffeur driven, tax supported limousines.  Their allies and supporters are the greens who want to take away your cars and force you onto mass transit.  They want to put the fetters back on you.  They can’t stand your freedom.  Oh, and they want to save the planet.

If you go back to the middle ages you would find that one difference between a free peasant and a serf was freedom of movement.  A serf was not allowed to go very far from home without permission from his lord.  At school we practice the same control.  Students are not allowed out of class without a pass.  In many parts of the world you are not allowed to move around without your “papers.”  We have seen it in the movies.  The sinister Nazi says, “Let me see your papers.”  Have you tried to fly lately?  Every step of the way you are expected to produce ID.  You are controlled and photographed.  Last year when the TSA was doing their illegal search of my person their machine detected some stray chemical.  As a result my ID was copied and put into the system.  I am now flagged.  Will that come back to bite me?  Probably.  The Lord of the Manor is closing in.

homo unius libri